Got my tank set up, questions abound!

[Binnsey]

Hey everyone!

Santa was good to me and brought me the stand and the filter I wanted so I went ahead and spent some cash today and got my tank set up. Tested the water before I added anything and got a pH of 7.6 and no ammonia. Added some ammonia to 5ppm and got everything running. Having one issue I need to get taken care of, and I'm looking for opinions from all you much more experienced Aquarists.

The light I got with the tank is in a really bad way (tank was used). Over time it seems the plastic on the fixture wore out and is coming off in big chunks. They almost feel like lime scale or something, but its certainly from the light. I need to get a new one, and am wondering how I should go about it. The outer plastic housing for the tank (what the fixture is screwed into) is fine, so my first thought was to get a new fixture and hook it in etc and use that. I browsed Walmart earlier as everything else was closed, and didn't come up with much. I plan on going to Home Depot/Canadian Tire tomorrow to have another look.

My main issue here is that I'd like to keep this cheap and easy as possible (not wired anything in a long time, so I'd like to keep it as easy as possible). The current fixture in the housing is 24 1/4 inches long. From what I saw
this isn't an easy to find size (or my walmart sucks, which is possible). The opening in the top of the lid is 27 1/8 inches long by 4 3/4 inches. Does this size sound familiar to anyone?

I'm currently browsing the net to see if I can see what I need online to pick up tomorrow, but would love an opinion. Oh, and pics will be coming once I get the light in, hopefully my driftwood finishes leeching soon because I think it'll really make everything work out well.

Thanks in advance, and sorry for that massive wall of text!

Happy New Years to everyone (even if its early )

[Dave66]

What are the dimensions of your tank? Length, width, height if you would. That will help with the light selection. You should decide if you want live plants now or in the future, or you know you'll never want live plants, as that will dictate the type of fixture you'll need.
And the tannins released by the driftwood really only bothers you. Majority of fish enjoy tannin-stained water. Especially Tetras, since they are black-water fishes.

Dave

[korith]

If the tank lid itself is fine, you can probably a new aquarium light to fit over it.

Cheapest route may be to get a new tank lid and a better light from pretty much any home depot like store. Could use a sheet of glass as a lid.

edit: sounds like a 20g long, 29g or 37g

[Binnsey]

Dimensions are 29.5 x 12.5 x 14 (l x w x h).

As far as plants go I don't see myself going planted on this tank, at least if I do it'll be a while yet before I go that way (1-1.5 years at minimum, probably not ever though).

As far as fish go (finalizing now before cycle is done), Original plan was corys and cardinal tetras. After looking around here, I didn't see any cardinals today in my fish store trip (every one in the town that I know of). I'm still going to get corys but now I'm thinking about what to add. The two thoughts in my head are either replace the cards with another type of tetra (from what I remember from my last thread 13-15 tetras and 4-6 corys?) or a slightly smaller group of tetras and maybe one "centerpiece" type fish if my tank can comfortably house them all. I am open to suggestions as well seems as I have a few weeks to have a good think on it. The only for sure I have at the moment is Corys. After seeing them in person and the videos on youtube etc I think they are a really entertaining fish.

So with that all in mind, I'm looking forward to some further responses.

Thanks for the quick replies, you all rock!

[korith]

Dimensions are 29.5 x 12.5 x 14 (l x w x h).

Well that's a 20g long I think.

You can probably go with 2 small schools of tetras or something around that size, and some cory cats.

Probably best if go visit your lfs and see what sorts of fish are available and which ones appeal to you. Make a list and then post them up here. Then people can help you choose on how many of each, which ones are compatible. Also to avoid having too many that stay in the same plane in the tank.

[Binnsey]

Ok, I've solved the lighting problem, and while I was doing that I had a good look at some fish. I've got two possible avenues in mind after having a look and would like opinions and how many of each I should go with.

1) Corys (likely going to be peppered corys), Neon Tetras and Black Skirt Tetras

2) Corys again, Neon Tetras, Zebra Danios (most likely long finned ones)

I suppose option 3 would be corys and neons, which I would also be happy with.

Any thoughs on what you think would work best, and how many of each would you go knowing the tank dimensions from above (29.5x12.5x14)

Thanks guys and gals.

[MrJim]

Ok, I've solved the lighting problem, and while I was doing that I had a good look at some fish. I've got two possible avenues in mind after having a look and would like opinions and how many of each I should go with.

1) Corys (likely going to be peppered corys), Neon Tetras and Black Skirt Tetras

2) Corys again, Neon Tetras, Zebra Danios (most likely long finned ones)

I suppose option 3 would be corys and neons, which I would also be happy with.

Any thoughs on what you think would work best, and how many of each would you go knowing the tank dimensions from above (29.5x12.5x14)

Thanks guys and gals.

Not sure mixing Danios & Neons are best~maybe ok in larger tank but my danios are so active & hyper they seem to intimidate my neons...check the compatibility stickies above about this. I'd thought it and what I read there affirmed it...my danios are crazyfish...I'd do one or the other..